What a lovely gift
by Waiting ON a wish
Summary: He didn't want to fight them, but what posebileties did he have to stop them. As a boy he had none, but maybe as a girl... He just never expected to become pregnant. Naruto finds a unusual way to stop the fight on the bridge, now he just have to live with the consequences. WARNING sex, hetro- and homosexuality, underaged sexual relationship
1. Chapter 1

_**I read 'The Consequence' by LadyEudave05 and 'Teacup Tempest' by Wingwyrm and got inspired. This is the result.**_

 _ **THIS FANFICTION WILL INCLUDE EXPLISIT SEXUAL CONTENT. THE SEX SCENES WILL BE MARKED CLEARLY, BOTH AT THE BEGING AND END OF THE SCENE.**_

Ch. 1

She stood looking at herself in the stream. The face that looked back at her was that of a ten year old girl, even though she could easily be taken for someone between the ages of 12 and 13, her hair was blond, and to the small of her back, and her blue eyes was a little scared, but determined.

Her face lacked the usual whisker marks she bore when she was in her male form. Oh yeah, she was born male, but had never considered herself as being of either gender, or rather being of the gender she was appearing at, at the specific time.

Her born name was Namikaze Naruto, although no one knew she was aware of that, and only thought that she knew herself by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. When she was in this form, she called herself Naruko.

She had been able to change between Naruto and Naruko since she was taught the Henge, and incorrectly at that. Of course she knew the 'right way' of doing it now, since Iruka had taught her, him being unaware of her having found a way to make a true transformation, and not just the illusion everyone else was making. She had, after discovering the truth about Kyuubi, thought that he was the reason for the whole 'true transformation' thing, but discovered that that wasn't so, after teaching it to Konohamaru.

She was trying to make herself do what she had planned, but she was scared. She had snuck into the kunichi classes, but didn't learn what she knew would be needed there, so she had a whore, from the red light district of Konoha, who owed her a favor; teach her all that she needed to know. But even then, she had never actually done it.

As she stood looking at herself, she recognized the scared look in her eyes. There was no way she could trick a trained ninja to believe that she knew what she was doing, so she had to play on what she had.

She hurriedly changed to the clothing she had bought from one of the street kids in the village that old man Tazuna had taken her to, to buy food. It wasn't worth much, but she truly needed it, if her deception was going to play off.

…o0O0o…

Twenty minutes later; she was standing in front of their hideout. She was still a little scared, and truly didn't believe it would work. But she had to try. It was the only way of keeping them out of the fight, and saving not only their lives, as she was truly convinced that Gato would get them killed in their weakened state, but also the lives of her team. Sasuke might think he was some sort of all powerful ninja, and Kakashi had at one time been an S-rank Jonin. But neither of that was now. Sasuke was far from being as strong as he believed himself, and Kakashi had let himself go, since his ANBU days. Had it been back then; he would have had no problem taking down Zabuza, when they met him before, and he wouldn't have fainted from chakra exhaustion. And that wasn't even counting Sakura or herself.

Sakura was just a weak fangirl, sure, at one point in time she had really wanted to be friends with her, and as she had discovered that when boys and girls were friends, it was called being a couple, she tried asking her out. It didn't take her long to discover that she was wrong. But at that time; she had started developing her mask, so she continued with following her around, always asking her on a date.

And her; there was no way that she was strong enough to fight at Jonin level. There was a reason that Genins were only given C-rank missions. They weren't ready to go against any more than bandits. And that wasn't even counting the sabotage she had encountered during her academy years. Sure; she had become better, and a lot of her mistakes were corrected after being put on team 7, but she was one out of 3 students, and that was even without taking into account the fact that Kakashi was always late, and didn't in fact like her all that much. She didn't know if that was because she resembled her father so much, and he resented her for surviving when her father didn't, or if he didn't know about her being her father's son/ daughter and just didn't like her mask.

She had had to develop her mask over the years, so as to not be totally sabotaged. If the village thought her stupid, she could easier take advantage, than if they were aware of her true intelligence. But even so, they had to wish to see her as stupid too, or they would have found it suspicious that she became a Genin at 10 years of age, instead of the normal 12. But as long as it benefitted her, she wasn't going to complain.

So this truly was the only way she could find, that wouldn't result in blood sheath and death all around.

As she knocked on the door, she bit her lip lightly. She would have wished to experience this differently, but she was a ninja, and as such; she belonged to Konoha, and its belief in putting the life of your teammates first.

"Yes, what do you want?" it was Haku.

"I… I was sent… sent by Gato… he paid me you see, and I really needed the money, and…"

"What do you want? Why are you here? Why did he send you?"Zabuza came into the light. He was as big as she remembered, but far from as scary. Not that she wasn't scared; but she didn't get the feeling that he could, and would, kill her if she made a miss step, like she had felt when they met earlier.

She gave a swallowed noisily, and started to speak, as consistently as she could through her fear of what was to come.

"I was sent… as a gift. I have no experience, but Gato-sama said that you would probably prefer someone untouched, instead of a regularly used… whore." When she said the last word, her eyes closed, she truly felt like a whore, even though they hadn't done anything yet, and even though she wasn't really getting payed.

Zabuza pushed Haku lightly aside, and looked her up and down, slowly. Then suddenly; he reached out, making her startle in shock, and gathered her in his arms. His free hand removed the bandages that covered the bottom of his face, and he _plundered_ her mouth.

She heard the door close quietly behind her, but couldn't hear movement from Haku, she hoped that he hadn't left. It would be detrimental to her plans, if she didn't get to drug him, after all.

Suddenly she accidentally let out a short, surprised moan. Zabuza had grabbed her bottom, and squeezed her cheeks. It felt surprisingly nice. His attacks made her feel rather hot beneath her clothing, and finally she gave up. If Haku had left, there wasn't really anything she could do, and if she focused too much of her attention elsewhere; she might get killed, due to suspicious ninja instincts. And while she was still a little scared; she decided that she wanted to enjoy this. It was her first time after all.

 **SEX SCENE - SEX SCENE - SEX SCENE - SEX SCENE - SEX SCENE - SEX SCENE - SEX SCENE - SEX SCENE**

He lay her down on one of the single beds in the room. It wasn't all that small, after all it would need to be a big size, to have the room for the giant man Zabuza was.

As he slowly pulled the tattered dress up her body, caressing her body on every inch revealed; both with his eyes and his hands. His hands were rough, but the caress was careful, it could even be called soft.

As her breasts were released from the cover of her dress, and it was put over her face, he stopped removing it, and bowed down over her. She startled lightly when one of her nipples was surrounded by a wet mouth. The light caress by his sharpened teeth was rather invigorating, and she had problems with keeping her hips still. But she had made a character study of him, and she was pretty sure that he preferred her to be as submissive as possible, something which she herself preferred, as all she wished for; was someone taking care of her, finally letting her let go, instead of always having to be on the lookout for danger or unpleasantness.

She was proven right when, upon her light shift, his hand grabbed her hips, forcing her to hold still. His other hand grabbed her wrists lightly; keeping them together and still above her head.

At the same time he gave a light growl from his throat; as if to say "lie still" or maybe "mine", she wasn't sure.

His mouth carefully explored her body, making sure to lightly mark her body with his teeth as he went along, although they both knew that the marks wouldn't even stay to the end of their coupling.

As he came to her core, he stuck out his tongue, and tasted her, ignoring the light startle of her body, upon the sensation. He slowly moved back up on her body, letting his body caress hers on the way. As he came up, laying chest against chest, he removed her dress, freeing her arms; although they both were aware that she wouldn't move them from their position above her head.

As her face became free, he focused his attention upon her mouth, attacking it, getting to know every hole and arc in her wet cavern; as if she was an enemy, who only could be overcome upon full disclosure of all of her secrets.

He slowly moved his body away from her, towering over her, only connected by the now pressed together hips.

He moved a little back, and slowly, carefully, moved within her. He continued his undulation for a short while, until he reached her barrier. She stiffened a little; she had been told that this part would hurt. The rest was dependent upon her partner, but this part _always_ hurt.

He bowed together, almost into half due to his far greater high, and kissed her brow, taking one hand to caress her chin lightly. Then he, almost brutally, speared through the hymen, making Naruto, who normally had a rather high pain tolerance; due to the beatings of the villagers and his own training as a ninja, give a startle and a soft whimper. _It had hurt._

He held still, for what might have been two minutes, and then, when she finally relaxed her body again, he started to move inside of her.

In the beginning she felt a little raw, and as such didn't enjoy it, although she was willing to endure it; If for no other reason, then at least because of the ecstatic face of her partner. She was enraptured by his different expressions; all of them showing great enjoyment.

Then suddenly he hit something inside of her, while at the same time his pubes hair scratched over the knot just outside her opening. She had been told that it felt good to get the knot, the clitoris, massaged, and that, for the most part, having sex felt good. But she had been too shy, and a little freaked out, to try the massage herself, and as Zabuza was her first partner; she hadn't been able to check that part before.

She accepted the changed, and improved, feeling with a humming, and a slight toss of her head. That seemed to be what he had been waiting for, as he increased the tempo, while caressing one of her breasts, squishing and lightly twisting her nipple.

Her even greater enjoyment at his action, and increased speed, made her move. She was moving against him, making each thrust deeper and harder.

Sounds had begun to come from him, and she searchingly, not fully assured that she was allowed to, started caressing his chest and sides with her hands. At a particularly delightful thrust; she let her hands go around him, scratching him, at first lightly but upon her enjoyment increasing, so did her grip, on the back.

As she reached her first climax; she grabbed his ass cheeks and burrowed her nails, which had sharpened upon her transformation, into his flesh. From the following moan from Zabuza, she was pretty sure he enjoyed it.

They continued on for almost two hours (at the end Naruto felt rather satisfied, but also raw), before Zabuza finally reached his climax.

He was burrowed deeply within her, and as he came; be bit down on her shoulder, leaving it bloody and smarting. But even then; the feeling of being marked, as a fox would a vixen, awakened something hidden within her, and she came once again. This time with an almost roar, doing her best to match Zabuza in volume.

 **END OF SEX SCENE - END OF SEX SCENE - END OF SEX SCENE - END OF SEX SCENE - END OF SEX SCENE**

She laid gasping for breath; it had been truly amazing, and she was sorry that it would never be re-done.

She looked almost lovingly at the out-blissed ninja at her side, and softly got on her feet. She went over to the bottle of sake that was standing on the table, and filled a glass. Of course sake wasn't the only thing she put in the glass; as a lonely orphan, in a village who hated her existence, she had to have some way to take out those who were stronger and better trained than her. At one point in time; that had been everyone. So she had taught herself about poison. How to make it, how to use it, and how to become resistant towards those she used, so that if she ever was in a situation as now, where she was asked to prove she hadn't poisoned something, she could do so easily.

After she had tasted the glass, Zabuza finally took the drink himself. It was slow working, so he wouldn't become alarmed at his sleepiness, and just wouldn't wake for a long time. They sat talking for a while. He easily made her laugh, and every time a giggle escaped her lips, he got a soft look in his eyes. As he slowly got more and more tired, he lay down on the bed, upon which they had been sitting, and gathered her in his arms.

"Don't worry about Gato. I'm keeping you when we leave."

She got tears in her eyes at his promise, but he only thought they were of gratitude, and slowly fell asleep.

After she was sure that he had fallen in a deep sleep, she slowly got out of the bed, and hurriedly wrote a note, before gathering her clothing, and leaving the hideout.

Even though she hadn't got to poison Haku, it might be for the best. After all; if they were both sleeping, who would defend them against Gato, should he come by? And it wasn't like Haku would leave Zabuza alone and defenseless, to attack the bridge. After all; Zabuza was his precious person. Even with what she had said, when they met earlier, she really would like to have a precious person. Even though she loved the old man, she couldn't trust him. There was to many times; where she had paid the price of politics. And while she didn't doubt that old man Hokage loved her; she did doubt that he would put her above the wishes and needs of the village. And if she wasn't given trust and the promise of them always being there for her; how was she supposed to give the same back?

The sun had risen, before she reached the clearing, in which she had left a shadow clone, looking like a passed out version of her, in her male form. She hurriedly made the hand sign to change back to male, but was interrupted by a loud shout.

" **STOP** " it was Kyuubi's voice.

"What is wrong with you, can't you see that I'm busy? What do you want?"

Kyuubi's answer came in a panicked tone.

" **No matter what you do; DO NOT CHANGE YOUR GENDER BACK. If you want to look like a boy again, change the visible parts of your body, like hair, face and chest, or just use a regular henge. Now hurry up; if you take much longer, they will come looking for you.** "

She hurriedly changed her looks to that of a boy, but left the inner workings, and her lower body, as it was, and changed into her horribly ugly and expensive orange jumper.

It wasn't like he didn't have any money to buy something better with. In a matter of fact, he had a lot; his savings became bigger and bigger, as he wasn't allowed to buy all that much in the village, and he supplied himself with a lot of stuff, including meat and vegetables, which he hunted and grew in the forest surrounding Konoha. The villagers wish to have nothing to do with him, apparently didn't include his money. As the few things he were allowed to buy; costed about 3 – 5 times what others would pay for it. But it did include most of the good stuff; clothing he would like to wear, things like a new fridge, food which wasn't close to or past the expiring date. But what can you do? At least they hadn't discovered that he had a way around them, yet.

What he couldn't grow, catch of manufacture himself; he bought in the neighboring town. No one knew that he could leave the village whenever he wanted, and he was never going to let anyone know. It had only become easier with the discovery of the shadow clone, but even before that, it wasn't too difficult to make everyone believe him either sick, or busy planning a prank.

Being predictable was the easiest way to become unpredictable.

As he stumbled into old man Tazuna's house, he was sent to bed with a disappointed shake of Kakashi-sensei's head. As Naruto didn't really fear for the team and old bridge builder, due to him having taken out the biggest risk during the night, he went gladly to the room, to figure out what was going on.

…o0O0o…

"Okay Kyuubi, why didn't you want me to change back? It better be important. It have better to be important, if Kakashi-sensei wasn't so preoccupied, he would have smelled that I am female right now." Her tone was sharp and to the point, she was really irritated, at the risk Kyuubi made her run. As long as she was female, there was the danger, that Kakashi would smell what she had done, and she wasn't prepared to run the risk of him discovering it.

One thing was to do those acts while it was within the mission perimeters; another thing was to take matters into her own hand. And it wouldn't look good in the report; that she had enjoyed it. Homosexual actions were looked down on among the villagers, and only accepted among the ninja when it was due to a mission, due to the lack of offspring coming of same sex couples. It was ridiculous, but gay and lesbians had found a way around it; by marrying someone of the opposite gender, who likewise was interested in their own sex, and producing children, having a healthy homosexual relationship, or several different partners, on the side.

She was quite sure that old man Hokage was aware of who was of what inclination, as those who were sent on missions were they would have to seduce someone of the same gender as themselves, were often seen with 'close friends' of same gender.

She wasn't supposed to know so much about the delegation of missions, or the mission reports, but her break in, to get the forbidden scroll, wasn't the first time she had broken into the Hokage tower. And furthermore; she had been given the duty of clearing out and categorizing the mission library many a time, after getting caught in a prank.

" **Oh I assure you it is important.** " Kyuubi's voice was dark and forbidding, but with a hint of dark humor.

At her worried silence he continued, in a faked upbeat voice.

" **Congratulations, in nine months you are going to become a mommy…** " and then in worried anticipation; " **When do we start running?** "

She just sat silently for a while; shocked out of her mind. How was that possible… not that she didn't know about the reproduction process, she had after all grown up in the red light district. And while she had been sent out of the class during those kind of lessens, supposedly for disturbing the class, she had been informed by the whores and geisha (those she knew in the red light district was in fact only glorified whores).

Then she started to think on Kyuubi's question. Running might be a good idea. She truly feared for her life, should the masses be informed of her ability to bear children. She had after all escaped some of the truly horrifying fates that often befell young girls living in the red light district, due to the virtue of being male. And while she was safe in the knowledge that she could, both legally and in ability, defend herself now that she was a ninja, she also feared for how her fellow ninjas would react.

But still; running away brought its own problems. She would have to find some way to get an income, she would be unprotected, should anyone find her, and they would look for her, of that she had no doubt; she was too important a weapon for Konoha to willingly loose her. No. running away brought to many problems with her. She would have to trust in her plan, and furthermore convince Zabuza that protecting his unborn child, and thereby her, was something he wished to do.

Furthermore; she could probably convince old man Hokage, that letting everyone believe that she had been hidden under a seal, making her look like a boy, would be for the best. As said before, those who slept with those of their own gender was often harassed, and she definitely didn't need to be hated even more.

Nothing for it; she would have to work things out for the best. After all, her child would be the heir of the Uzumaki and the Namikaze clan's and probably also the Momochi clan, although she wasn't fully sure, that Zabuza was the last of his clan, or even if he was from a clan.

Better head to the bridge, and see if her plan would unfold.

Just as he rose from the bed, he heard Tsunami's scream, and Inari's yell, and he hurried downstairs.

The thugs wasn't very hard to get rid of, and although he truly hated to kill, even though he was more or less used to it (unknown by the Hokage, but you were only able to defend yourself so much, by using nonlethal means, and he had had to defend himself in Konoha daily, from the age of 5, when he was thrown out of the orphanage), he couldn't let them live. It would only mean trouble later on.

After instructing Tsunami and Inari to go to the closest neighbor, to seek momentarily shelter, he sat course towards the bridge. He really hoped his plan would work, or there would be no hope for convincing Zabuza to assist him and take care of him later.

As he neared the bridge, and his eyes fell upon it, he fell into role, as the stupid dead last. He sprang onto the bridge, with the yell of "Uzumaki Naruto is here. As he looked around he got a chock; his plan had failed. Oh why had he forgotten about Haku's knowledge about herbs? He had apparently awakened Zabuza and now they were her, fighting. But as he looked closer, he noticed that even though they were fighting, and both Sakura and Sasuke were apparently tricked, Kakashi-sensei looked as confused as he himself was; they weren't doing any deliberating or killing blows.

Kakashi-sensei had apparently taken his que from the missing nins, and weren't fighting to kill, although it looked like he was quite set on catching Zabuza, most likely to question him about what was going on. When his eyes met Zabuza's, the man gave a short, subtle nod toward the ice dome where Sasuke was fighting. At least they seemed to take his warning seriously, even though they didn't seem to have been willing to follow his plan.

The fight went on, Sasuke was hit with a lot of needles, trying to save Naruto's life; Naruto was quite thankful for the action, as he truly feared for his unborn child, should he get hit in the womb by one of those ice needles.

For a moment he feared that Sasuke was truly dead, and in that moment he activated Kyuubi's chakra cloak. While he almost immediately discovered the trick, he didn't remove the cloak, as upon using Kyuubi's chakra, he became able to hear much better, and heard the almost silent whispers in the nearing boat; Gato was here.

As he caught Haku around the neck with his hand, he turned toward his sensei and his lover, if only for the previous night, to see Zabuza caught in the jaws of Kakashi-sensei's dog summons.

He caught his sensei's eyes, and motioned toward the end of the bridge, where he could now hear Gato, and what he assumed was most of his thugs, come ashore. His sensei sniffed the air lightly, and gave Naruto a nod, but then he frowned, and sniffed in the direction of Naruto. Naruto started to get a little nervous, he needed to talk to Zabuza, or at least Old man Hokage, first; before he was willing to discuss his new situation, and his rather daring actions, with Kakashi-sensei.

As Zabuza had noticed their attention shifting toward the end of the bridge, he visibly strained his hearing, and as he noticed the sounds of Gato and his men, he made the mist disappear.

As they came within view a slow, almost mocking, yet delighted clapping was heard.

"Congratulation Zabuza; in tiring out the Konoha nins. Too bad that I won't be needing you anymore, you do after all seem incapable of fulfilling your contract… don't worry, I would have had you killed anyway, after all; with you dead I don't have to pay your wagers, and I can get the bounty. But if it makes you feel better, I'm not going to kill your little bodyguard… I'm going to give her to my men, as a little extra reward you know…"

During Gato's vocal diarrhea (you never warn a Shinobi when you plan to double cross him) Kakashi had made his summons release Zabuza, after a nod from Naruto, who had likewise released Haku.

It didn't take long for Zabuza and Haku, with a little help from Naruto's shadow clones, and the normal insubstantial clones from Kakashi, to make an end to Gato and his men. As the two missing nins got ready to leave; Zabuza started talking to Naruto.

"It seems like you were right girl. Too bad that you are a ninja; I would have kept my promise hadn't you been."

At Zabuza's words; it seemed like Kakashi finally noticed what had confused him earlier.

"Girl?... Naruto what…" Naruto didn't take the time to listen to her teacher, she needed to talk with Zabuza, and do it before he disappeared and became untraceable.

"Zabuza-sama wait… I… I need to talk to you… I…" then with a deep breath he started to say whats he wanted to, what it was so important for her to say to him.

"There are a couple of S-rank secrets in Konoha which concerns me, as such I don't want to tell the reason behind why I know this, just know that I am not in doubt of the truth of it. I… I'm pregnant… I…"

Haku snorted. "And how exactly are you able to know that, only a day after? It must be some really weird secrets."

Naruto took a deep breath, both to collect her curage once again, but also to keep her temper… this wasn't a joke.

"Yes… it is some big secrets… the result of one of them is; I know my body better than anyone… I am quite capable of feeling the new life starting in me." Then he turned toward Zabuza.

"I don't tell you this to try to get something from you, or trick you in any way… I'm telling you this, so that should you ever want to get to know your child, you will know that he or she will be in Konoha. You still haven't done anything against Konoha; as a missing nin, and your actions during the third war, against Uzushiogakure… I am the only descendant of the Uzumaki clan, as such it is up to me to forgive you. I am willing to do so, to secure you safe passage in Konoha, if you promise to never attack a Konoha nin."

Then she looked imploringly at Zabuza;

"I really wish for my child and heir to know his or her father. I don't have any family; as such I know exactly how important family is. If you want nothing to do with… with your child… then don't come calling; that is all that I ask of you."

Zabuza just looked at her for a little while, and then he got a confused look on his face.

"Why would you want to keep this child? You are very young, it is a mission child, and you just told me you have no family to help you… you risk that this child will end your carrier as a ninja."

Naruto looked back for a short while, and then she smiled, like she knew a secret, and as if her greatest wish had just been fulfilled.

"You are right… I have no family… I will probably newer get a partner… let's just say that I'm all that popular in Konoha… this might be my only possibility of getting a family. And a truly doubt that I will get to drop my carrier as a ninja… I'm a little to valuable to Konoha, to be allowed to do so."

Both Haku and Zabuza looked a little confused at first then, almost as one, they seemingly figured something out.

"The red chakra…?" it came from Haku, in a quiet voice. Him voicing what they both were thinking.

Naruto just smiled secretively, and tilted her head to the side.

"S-"

"rank village secret… I know." Zabuza interrupted.

The sound of a throat being cleared sounded. Kakashi had seemingly had enough of being ignored.

"How exactly was my 10 year old, male, genin able to become pregnant while on a mission?" it was asked in a forbidding tone, and he looked ready to rip Zabuza into pieces.

"And why do you think he is a girl?"

Zabuza looked pretty flummoxed, and Haku had an angry look on his face.

"Ten…" it was said in a stumbling whisper, and he was interrupted in his rhetorical question, before he could finish it.

"How dare you make Zabuza-sama a pedophile? I actually liked you, and now you come and…"

"Enough Haku!" Zabuza's voice was hard, but with a slight roughness from his earlier surprise.

"Her age doesn't matter. She looked and felt old enough, and from her sensei's surprise; I am pretty sure it was her own wish and actions. I don't feel like a… a pedophile… she is a ninja, as such she counts as a grown up. That's how the law is… old enough to kill – old enough to drink, fuck, and apparently grow a family…" then he turned toward Kakashi.

"And are you really so retarded? You haven't even noticed the gender of your own genin? Sure; she had quite a few more curves last night, and a different hair color… by the way how did you do that? I always check for henge when meeting new people." The last question was asked of Naruto, who hurriedly answered; she didn't want an argument to erupt.

"It's my own version of the henge, instead of an illusion, it makes a physical transformation." And then, disregarding her earlier thought; that she had to talk to old man Hokage about her new story, she started to spin her little lie. Ignoring the, finally understanding, look upon her sensei's face.

"And please don't denigrate Kakashi-sensei, he didn't know. I was born female, but due to the dangers presented in the village; as most of the civilians hate me, due to no fault of my own, I had a seal placed on me; that would disguise my gender. My life haven't been good, filled with name calling and beatings… you can imagine the pain and humiliation I was spared, due to being a boy."

At her words; the sly and fake sympathetic look in Kakashi's eye disappeared, to be taken over by a truly sympathetic and surprisingly self-hating look.

She was a little surprised; why would he be feeling self-hate? As far as she knew; he had never done anything toward her, not even behind her back.

It was at this point in time they were interrupted.

"Kakashi-sensei, he's alive… Sasuke is alive!"

Naruto rolled her eyes at Sakura's stupid comment. Did she think that they would just be standing around, talking to his murderer, had Sasuke really been dead? She really didn't think much of them. But even with that thought, she turned and walked toward the two final members of their team, and Tazuna the bridge builder, whom Sakura had been standing in front of during the whole fight; 'guarding' him.

Haku had apparently followed her, because as she neared, and Sakura looked up, she growled.

"What is she doing here… she was the one who hurt Sasuke-kun… make her go away." At her words Haku looked rather affronted. He had after all made sure that where he hit wouldn't leave permanent disabilities, and was ready to offer his help in getting Sasuke back to full health faster than he would have gotten; with Sakura's subpar help.

Naruto couldn't hold in a snigger. Apparently she wasn't the only one who couldn't see that Haku was a boy and not a girl, at first look. Although she was rather surprised that Gato hadn't known the truth. He had after all had much more contact with the missing nins, than their team had.

And now that she thought about it… Sakura was rather useless. She didn't want someone she saw as an enemy, to come closer to her injured teammate, yet all she could do to change the situation; was to tell her sensei to change it for her. She had quite literally been utterly useless during the fight. And Naruto **knew** that should someone have made a move for the old drunk bridge builder; she would have folded, and left him defenseless. She was truly less than useless to have on the team.

Apparently she didn't even notice that something was amiss, neither during nor after the fight. And that despite the fact, that she was lauded as the smartest in their class, during the academy. Apparently; her whole 'following Sasuke around and spy on him changing clothing'-routine had rotted her brain.

…o0O0o…

They had finally got Sasuke to wake up fully, although he was paralyzed. He seemed to wish for the unconsciousness again; something that both Naruto and Kakashi understood. After all; they would have the same wish, had they been paralyzed, and at the mercy of a fangirl.

Haku seemed unable to understand his plight, but at Kakashi's short explanation, involving the word fangirl, Zabuza took his apprentice to the side, and explained the situation. Afterward he was very apological towards Sasuke, and soon earned his forgiveness, primarily because of the fact that his actions had resulted in the awakening of Sasuke's sharingan. Something he was unable to get from Sakura, although none of them understood why she felt that she had the right to hand out, or withhold, forgiveness.

The villagers had turned up, wanting to take revenge against 'Gato's men' and was rather disappointed upon finding out that they were too late to the fight, and that Zabuza and Haku no longer were the enemy.

It didn't take much more than a week, coincidentally the same time it took until Sasuke was fully healed, before the bridge was finished.

Unknown to Kakashi and the rest of his team, and of course the villagers, Zabuza and Haku had cleared out most of Gato's secret stash. They left enough of his money, for wave to get back on its own two feet again, but they had hidden away what were equivalent to at least 20 S-rank missions, each. And of course they hadn't forgotten Naruto.

She soon, to her big surprise, became the owner of several legal shipping businesses' and the sum that she would have been paid for the S-rank mission, of releasing Wave from a tyrant.

Zabuza might not be all that hooked on the idea of being a father, but he wasn't willing to ignore what he saw as his responsibility either. He hadn't decided yet, but whether he chose to go with Naruto to Konoha, come later, or never see his child; he was going to at least take care of the both of them financially. There was no way Naruto had the economy to take care of a child yet. She was after all only a rookie genin.

Sakura had seemingly been totally unaware of the conversation on the bridge (Sasuke too, but at least he had the excuse of being unconscious), this resulted in confusion, but ultimately disinterest in the reason behind the changed relationship between the four ninja's. None of them were aware of Naruto's pregnancy or change in gender either, and wouldn't be for as long as she could keep it a secret, as she had informed her sensei.

While Kakashi was a big believer in team work, he also believed in the right of privacy; having been the recipient of many rumors, both during his childhood, but also after he had grown up. As such, he was willing to give in to her wishes, and keep the changed situation a secret.

And as such was the situation, when they readied themselves for the journey home to Konoha.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

The journey home to Konoha took, when they didn't have to travel at civilian speed, only two days. Zabuza and Haku must have traveled at a much higher speed, because even with them leaving a day before them, they shouldn't have been able to reach them when they did.

As it was; they joined them about an hour before they reached the gates of Konoha. They had had contact with one of Zabuza's informants, and while they had planned on joining, and giving all the money they had taken from Gato's estate to, the revolution in Kirigakure; they had been informed that Zabuza was seen as an enemy by both side in the conflict. Not willing to go to his death, he decided to join his little lover, and future child.

As they came to the gate, and the check in for entering the village, there didn't go many seconds before they were surrounded by ANBU. The gate guard, a chunin by the name of Kamizuki Izumo, came forward, seemingly a little pensive at the sight of Zabuza.

"What…" he then cleared his throat; Zabuza's reputation was apparently much scarier than Naruto had thought.

"What are your reasons for wishing to enter Konoha?" now Sakura looked a little confused. She knew that when someone came to a village gate; the first thing they would have to do was to identify themselves and show their passport. They were thought so in the academy; even though most have learned it by their parents by then.

Zabuza seemed to agree with her, and followed the normal procedure.

"My name is Momochi Zabuza, and this is my student Yuki Haku. We come to Konoha to join the forces, and so that I can marry the mother of my child." The last sentence made Kakashi startle slightly, not enough for his students, or even the gate guard to notice, but both Zabuza, Haku and the ANBU noticed, the last ones filling it for later; apparently Kakashi was aware of whom The Demon of the Hidden Mist was speaking of.

Naruto didn't react at all. She had expected that to be the case, and had already made a mental list of what would needed to be taken care of, and what she would need to speak about with the Old Man.

Izumo took the passports Zabuza was holding toward him, but after a short cursory scan, he held them back. It wasn't like he didn't know about Zabuza, although the look at Haku's passport was slightly longer.

"Yes… well… you will need to present yourself to the Sandaime Hokage. He will decide whether you will be allowed to live in the village. The ANBU guard will show you the way."

When they just stood, apparently waiting for Kakashi's team, he hurriedly got the papers cleared for his team too, so as not to have the scary guy from Mist hanging around for too long. Kakashi and his team would need to go to the Hokage anyway, and when they had left the gate; it wouldn't be his problem anymore.

As Kakashi gathered his genins, and apparently The Demon of the Hidden Mist and his student, and started the journey to the Hokage's tower, he let out a relieved breath, and turned toward his partner Hagane Kotetsu, to berate him for hiding, leaving him with the dangerous ninja.

…o0O0o…

When the group, upon Kakashi's insistence of them being allowed to enter together, entered the Hokage's office, Kakashi was hit by an enraged stare. At first he feared for his life; the Hokage must have somehow figured out what had happened on the mission, but then he realized that leaving the demon brothers, and catching a passing hunter-nin's attention, to get them to Konaha, clearly stating, within the hearing range of the hunter-nin, that the mission had gone up from a C-rank, and deciding to take his rookie genins with him, continuing the mission, might not have been the smartest idea; especially not when he had the Hokage's unofficial nephew on his team. He might just be a little over his head.

His fear of actually getting a little time with Ibiki upon the reveal on what furthermore had been going on, on the mission, might become a reality.

While he was caught in his fearful musings, the rest of the group had come to a standstill. Zabuza was standing with one hand on the shoulder of Naruto, caressing him softly with his thumb.

Kakashi made a gulping sound, and started talking to the now red faced Hokage; he looked like he was ready to explode any minute.

"Hokage-sama I ask for the allowance of only explaining part of the mission details while my whole team are present, as some of it involve S-rank village secrets." At Sarutobi's strained nod he continued on.

"We were given the C-rank mission of protecting the bridge builder of wave; Tazuna, on his travel to wave, and while he finished building his bridge. Two days into the mission we encountered the c-class missing nins Gozu and Meizu from Kirigakure, also called the demon brothers. I let my unaware team spring a trap of theirs, both to see who they wanted to attack, but also to find out what my team was capable of. I pretended to be killed due to the surprise of the attack, and watched the proceedings from a nearby tree, ready to jump in, should my team be in any real danger.

Sakura guarded the client, while Sasuke and Naruto each took out one of the brothers. Naruto got scratched by the poisoned weapon of one of the brothers, but released the poison, by way of bleeding it out, after the fight.

The brothers was clearly bend on getting to the client, and after having bound the demon brothers, and signaling the nearby hunter-nin, I interrogated the client on the false ranking of the mission, and he told us that the reason for this was; that wave was almost bleed dry by a criminal shipping magnate by the name of Gato. He had the country in a tight monopoly of the sailing, and Tazuna's bridge was supposed to be the release of the country.

I decided, for the good of the village relations, and with the wishes of my team, to continue the mission.

Upon entering wave we encountered Momochi Zabuza, also called The Demon of the Hidden Mist, and I engaged in battle while my team protected the client.

During the fight I got caught in a water prison, and ordered my team to retreat, as he was way out of their league. My team dismissed my orders, and continued to attack Zabuza with a sneak attack, thereby forcing him to release me from my prison. The fight concluded in me hitting Zabuza, rendering him unconscious. Upon closer look he was discovered to have been hit in the neck by senbon, which was cast by a hidden Kiri hunternin. Later we discovered that he wasn't in fact a hunter-nin, but an accomplice of Zabuza's.

I fainted due to chakra exhaustion, and my team transported me, while guarding the client, to the client's home.

Upon my awakening I informed my team of my suspicion; that Zabuza wasn't dead, and merely in a near death state, rendering him unable to fight for at least a week. Giving me a week to recover, and my team to prepare, before the fight would commence.

Hokage-sama, I would like to tell this part of the debriefing without genin Uchiha and genin Haruno being present, due to the fact that village secrets are a part of the explanation." At the Hokage's slight nod, he was very interested in what had happened, but wasn't willing to let Naruto's secrets become common knowledge for his team. It would be up to Naruto, when he would want them to know. And while they could apparently work well together, by the sound of Kakashi's mission report, he could see that there was still distrust form Naruto toward his teammates.

He even seemed like he didn't trust Kakashi fully; something that could turn out to become a problem, as a genin was supposed to be able to fully trust his sensei. But considering Naruto's history with Mizuki, and his early academy teachers; who it had turned out had sabotaged his schooling, it was quite understandable.

"7 days after the fight with Zabuza; Zabuza and his student Yuki Haku, who is not a missing nin, and have never gotten standardized tutoring or schooling in the ninja arts, attacked the bridge. Sakura was guarding the client, and Sasuke engaged Haku, while I engaged Zabuza. Naruto had been left at the clients home, due to having come back late, and was awoken, and warned of the conflict, by two of Gato's thugs attacking the clients daughter and grandson. Naruto killed the two guards, and after sending the clients family to safety at the neighbor, he joined us at the bridge.

The attacks from Zabuza and Haku were non-lethal, and as such; I defended with non-lethal means. Upon Sasuke and Naruto's fight against Haku being conclude, with Sasuke being in a near-death state, and Naruto using his _inner well of chakra_ , and me having caught Zabuza with my summons, Gato entered the bridge, with what we later found out was his full gathering of thugs; I will estimate that there was about 200 men, and apparently that was what Zabuza and Haku had been waiting for.

Naruto signaled me to release my prisoner, and upon doing so, the two enemy nins attacked, and killed, Gato and all of his men.

The rest of the week it took to build the bridge, which was named the Great Naruto bridge, in honor of Naruto inspiring hope and a will to fight into the clients grandson, was quiet and problem free. Upon them leaving wave, Naruto invited Momochi Zabuza and Yuki Haku to become a part of Konoha's forces. They joined us about an hour before we reached the gate.

This is my debriefing, and I recommend that anyone, who is not Uzumaki Naruto, Momochi Zabuza, Yuki Haku, myself, or you Hokage-sama, leave the office, as some of the missing information are rather personal, and I doubt you will want even your ANBU guards to know the whole truth.

Of course the decision is yours Hokage-sama, this is just my recommendation.

When he ended his debriefing he stood in a seemingly relaxed, yet ready for action, position, looking straight forward. There was no way he dared to read his Icha Icha book, when he feared for actually getting a time out in the T & I division, upon revealing the classified part of his mission.

Sarutobi looked surprised upon the inclusion of the missing nin and his student for the classified part of the debriefing, but he figured that they had been involved in the whole affair.

It surprised him some; that the wandering and free-spirited missing nin that Zabuza was, was willing to bind himself to another village, but he figured he would come to the reason why that was, when he had finished the debriefing.

He turned toward the two, soon to be excluded, members of the team, and asked them;

"Do you have anything to add to the mission rapport?" at the reluctant shake of the head from Sasuke, and the awed same from Sakura, he sent them on their way.

He sat; looking at Zabuza, for a little while, and then he gave an order;

"Everyone but boar are to leave, I will tell him when to call you back." Then to Naruto.

"Boar has been the leader of you security detail until you reached genin, and is my most trusted ANBU. He knows all the secrets concerning you, even many you yourself don't know yet." Upon Naruto's look around the office, he made a waving motion, and a boar masked ANBU jumped down from a corner, where he shouldn't have been able to hide, as there were no shadows.

He gave a nod to Naruto, but ignored the rest, and took his place, about a steps distance behind the Hokage.

"Now what part of the mission, exactly, are relevant for the classifying? And what happened in the week between fights?" when Kakashi looked ready to continue the debriefing, Sarutobi held up a hand, never moving his gaze from Naruto.

Naruto took a fortifying breath, and started to explain.

"You know my Sexy no Jutsu… it isn't a henge." At this point the Hokage looked truly surprised, both at the thought of what relevance this could have to the mission, and at the fact of the Jutsu itself.

"A henge is an illusion, a genjutsu… my Sexy no Jutsu is a transformation. I don't use it only for catching perverts you know… I also use it to transform into a wolf when I am hunting, or someone else when I need to shop groceries… if I only used a henge, someone would have discovered it by now… there are after all a lot of ways to see through the henge, and you only have to have the slightest suspicion of someone being under a henge, before you are legally allowed to disable it… it was a law that was supposed to work against spies, but I have been the subject of it many times, always to see if I was me." As old man Hokage cleared his throat, he returned to the subject he was supposed to explain.

"As I told you, it is a true transformation… when I discovered that Zabuza-sama and Haku-kun were working for Gato, I became suspicious… I met Haku in the woods, and we started talking, I don't think he knew that I knew that he was him, but I learned a lot about Zabuza and Haku through those meetings." At Naruto's confusing description about what exactly Haku knew, Haku and Kakashi became a rather confused. The Hokage was used to Naruto talking like that, and Zabuza seemed to understand everything Naruto meant, also when it was nowhere near what was coming out of his mouth.

"I went to Gato's hideout, without Kakashi-senseis knowledge, to figure out why there wasn't any more ninja around… I mean if you make a business out of threatening people, and do all the illegal stuff he was doing, you have got to have contact with missing ninjas more than a couple of times. And I was right in my suspicion… Gato hired missing nins, gave them a mission, and when they were weary and exhausted upon the conclusion of the mission, he killed them, and gathered the bounty on their head.

I thought of contacting Haku-kun and tell him what I had figured out, but I knew that he would do whatever Zabuza-sama wanted him to do, and as I had no report with Zabuza-sama, I had no way of convincing him that I was right… plus I was afraid that he would kill me if he knew that I knew where he was.

So I put a plan together.

I transformed, with my Sexy no Jutsu, to a girl a couple of years older than I really am, went to Zabuza and Haku's hideout, and told them that I was a present form Gato…

I will not go into the details, as I very much doubt that you wanna hear them, but I had sex with Zabuza-sama, and then I drugged him. I wrote a letter, so they wouldn't be caught up in Gato's net a second time, and left. I forgot that Haku-kun is very knowledgeable about herbs and medicine, and he woke Zabuza-sama up, long before I had planned.

Luckily they choose to listen to my warning, and faked the whole fight on the bridge… now I want you to put down your pipe old man…" and he did wait until the Hokage had put his pipe down before continuing.

"Apparently I can get pregnant while in female form, if this is normal, or if the reason is because of Kyuubi, I don't know. I thought the jutsu to Konohamaru, so you could check it that way, but he would need a shitload of chakra, to keep the jutsu up, for all 9 month of the pregnancy. If he was to ever lose the transformation, he would lose the child. And…" he was interrupted by a despairing moan from the Hokage, who until now had been frozen in shear shock. Minato's beloved son had gotten pregnant during a mission, at the age of ten… and he hadn't missed the way that Naruto called his follow parent '–sama'; this could become a big problem.

Then Zabuza's rough voice was heard.

"I thought you told me that you had a seal placed upon you at birth, that made you look like a male, rather than the female you were born as… and don't think I have forgotten the part about the Kyuubi… you are a Jinchuriki, are you not?"

Naruto swallowed what he had in his almost bone dry mouth, he had forgotten that it was supposed to be a secret… he had always felt so secure while in the old man's office, so he hadn't even thought about who, apart from the old man, would be hearing his story… now he had told it to both Zabuza-sama; who would never want to be part of his family now, and Kakashi-sensei; who normally wouldn't care about him at all… maybe he would even tell Sasuke and Sakura about what had happened… the teamwork was already strained… it would only become unbearable upon them hearing what was really going on.

When those thoughts started to swirl around in his head, he hunched over, trying to become as small a target as possible, and started whimpering.

Zabuza stopped the next words in his throat… what had happened to the fun-loving and free-spirited child- girl- boy- ninja… yes the fun-loving and free-spirited ninja? He looked like he was ready to accept an attack… like he would attack him… he was a little affronted that his lover would think that of him, but he was even more worried for what he had gone through, to have such an extreme natural response to being questioned.

He didn't hesitate when confronted by his lovers fear, and took him in his arms, planting himself on the ground with his lover in his lap, before the Hokage had even thought of a reaction. The Hokage's startled look made him feel a little better about the situation.

"What is wrong Naruko? What makes you think that I would ever harm you? Haven't I told you that you are mine?... I look after my stuff; you know that, don't you my little future wife?"

At the last word left Zabuza's mouth; Kakashi and the Hokage froze up. Kakashi in fear of what would happen to him; as he was responsible for Naruto, when this started. Hiruzen was frozen in shock, both in delight that someone would actually want Naruto, but also quite upset; that it would be a violent shinobi who didn't belong to the village, and who thought of Naruto as a possession.

"You are aware, that even though he is a she right now, she won't always be a female, and when the pregnancy is over, she will revert to being male. And no matter what you may think, Naruto belongs to no one but Konoha, as one of its ninja."

Zabuza just shrugged.

"A good fuck is a good fuck, and I don't care all that much for gender. She will be the mother of my child, and I have always been willing to marry whoever ended up pregnant with my child… not that it is in any way a burden; I actually like her personality, and can see enjoying being married to her… him… whatever.

But I will have to ask if being the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi is the reason for the villagers hating him… it show a concerning lack of knowledge about sealing… I wouldn't be scared of a sealing scroll, even if it contained a dangerous jutsu, as it is still only a sealing scroll. Because if what she said is true; that being a girl would make his life dangerous in many unpleasant ways, I will have to say that unless I am by her side all of the time; being a pregnant girl is no less dangerous than if she wasn't pregnant. In fact it is even more dangerous, as she, at some point in her pregnancy, won't be able to defend herself properly. I don't like the thought of her going on missions either… especially not on a team with someone as incompetent as her female teammate… it would just be asking for the death of our child, and worst case scenario, Naruto's death."

The hokage almost lost a lunge, when he inhaled from his pipe, as Zabuza started talking. When he got back his breath, he started to listen; and he had to admit, the situation Zabuza was talking about, made him rather nervous.

"What do you suggest then, and please be aware that Naruto haven't agreed to your proposal yet… in fact he might never do so."

But even as he was talking, he looked at Naruto, sitting in Zabuza's lap. He seemed rather content, and sends his old man a rather scathing look upon his words. Apparently it was a forgone conclusion that they would get married.

Zabuza chuckled likewise in disgust upon his words, but then he got a thoughtful look upon his face. The Hokage let him sit and think for a little while, and was rewarded with a brilliant plan, which would also take care of another one of his problems.

During all of this he had not even once thought of asking Naruto whether he wanted to keep the child. He knew his unclaimed grandson well, he had always wished for a family, and this might be his only chance at getting it.

"I think Naruto will need to get taken off of his team… whether he carries one female form through the pregnancy or another doesn't matter, so if he was to look a little more age appropriate for being pregnant, it would probably be for the best. Next we will need to make it look like 'she' have been on a long term infiltration mission, as; according to what Naruto have told me about what her strong sides are, it is the only specialization she would be able to fake being good enough at, to get send on a mission by herself at. This will be needed as the ninja force will become suspicious if an uncounted for ninja suddenly show up. We will need Kakashi-san's help with this, as it would look suspicious if no one knew her.

Then I will take care of training Naruto while she is pregnant, so that she won't lose her edge, and will actually have a chance of survival at future missions. We can easily tell everyone that the child is a mission baby and that I am the father, it is the truth, and we have data to prove it.

Don't worry about the monetary aspect of the situation; I will be taking care of it."

At the end of voicing his idea he looked beseechingly at the Hokage, unless he had an even better idea, he was pretty sure that would be what they would be doing.

"What about Naruto himself?" Kakashi interrupted the talk between the two men, he didn't like the thought of losing his sensei's son, but at least he would be able to stay in contact; he was after all going to pretend to be a close acquaintance. The thought made him almost happy at the situation. There was after all only so much interest you could show one of your students, before someone yelled fowl.

At Zabuza and the Hokage's asking look, he elaborated.

"If Naruto suddenly disappear, people will get suspicious… he isn't well liked, but he is well known!"

For the first time in the conversation; Haku started speaking.

"Why don't we say that the poison from Gozu and Meizu's weapons was more serious than we thought, and that Naruto had to be taken out of the ninja corps for an undetermined length of time? It will be unknown whether he will return, and if he should wish to go back to his old face, he will be able to. Likewise; should he want to live the rest of his life as the wife of Zabuza-sama, he is able to do so."

The Hokage, Kakashi and Zabuza were nodding along, and when they started to discuss his future identity; Boar went into the Hokage's safe, and took out a stack of documents.

Upon showing them to the waiting Hokage, the Hokage nodded a little more, and turned toward Naruto.

"I was only supposed to tell you about your parents upon you either becoming a chunin, or getting married, whatever came first. You are not yet married, but this is close enough. You were supposed to have a cousin, upon your birth, but an hour into the siege of the Kyuubi, your 4 year old cousin died, due to chakra poisoning. Before you ask; her parents died fighting in the third shinobi war, and she was being raised by your parents. It is not as old as I would have preferred you, but that identity ensures that you will be able to accept and receive your inheritance from your parents.

Your mother's name was…" here Naruto interrupted the old man. As he was finally willing to tell the truth, she was willing to show that she had known for a while.

"Uzumaki Kushina, she was the last of the mainline of the Uzumaki clan, and thereby default leader of the destroyed Uzushirogakure, and my father was Namikaze Minato, better known as the yellow flash or the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha."

At Naruto's quiet words everyone adopted the look of a stranded fish, except for the masked ANBU, although he could have had that look, but as his face was hidden, it would be his secret.

Kakashi and the Hokage were surprised that Naruto knew of his heritage, and hadn't informed anyone, while Haku and Zabuza were amazed at the linage of Zabuza's future wife.

As the Hokage got his wits together, he showed Naruto the information he had on Naruto's cousin, and what exactly he would inherit.

Two hours later; Naruto was in the guise of a 14 year old girl, with blond hair, no whisker marks and his own blue eyes. She looked rather like her Sexy no Jutsu, except for the fact that she was wearing clothing, and wasn't quite as voluminous. Primarily due to it not being probable for a 14 year old, to look like a porn-star.

She had been told where her parent's house were located, and the Hokage told her that he would be going with her to the bank in the morrow, to open her account again, it had after all been 10 years since anyone had touched it.

While she had been reading the information given to her by the Hokage, he had been busy with checking whether her future husband would be a problem to the village. And in the end, just before she was ready to leave, he was handed a forehead protector. He was now a productive member of the village.

Kakashi had been tasked with emptying out Naruto's old apartment, and put everything in sealing scrolls, and he returned just as they started to leave the room. He decided to follow the pair to their new home, as he told them he 'was pretty knowledgably about all things Minato', as he had been his sensei, from he was 5 years old.

…o0O0o…

That evening they got married by the Hokage. The only ones who had been in attendance were Haku and Kakashi. Naruto, who by now had been renamed Namikaze Akemi, soon to be Momochi Akemi, legally, was quite satisfied with the turnout, as she didn't want people who would destroy her new life to be present. And even though she liked Iruka, she was sure that he would never accept her sudden change in gender and her plans for the future, not to mention that she was getting married and expecting a child at 10 years of age. To Iruka that would be quite unacceptable.

With the wedding came a gift from her husband, in the form of a live in bodyguard; Yuki Haku. He would be living with them and, according to an agreement with the Hokage, would be staying in the village, whenever Zabuza would leave it, at least until the baby was borne.

The day leading up to the wedding had involved the redecoration of the new Momochi, former Namikaze, clan house, and the thereby resulting shopping trip. Of course Zabuza took the chance the shopping trip afforded and fully outfitted his future wife, both with civilian and ninja clothing (including an upgrade of the weapons Naruto had, as they were few and of bad quality).

The shopping trip had been quite a bit more tolerable than Zabuza had expected. Maybe because he had imagined something like when he had went shopping with Mei, the leader of the revolution in Mist. He should have thought of the fact, that Naruto was born male, and had never had the female friends, that made the whole shopping experience so tantalizing.

He was quite happy, when upon entering the clothing shop, the one for civilians, Naruto immediately set upon the Kimonos. Zabuza had always preferred that form of female dressing, something Haku had picked up on, and which was the reason for him wearing them, when not in his hunter-nin costume.

When Naruto came out from the dressing room, Zabuza almost pushed her back in, wanting to take care of a sudden and insistent problem that had 'arisen' due to how delectable she looked in her quite fancy kimono.

When Naruto saw Zabuza's smoldering eyes, running up and down her form, she immediately decided that this was what she was going to wear. She had only went for the kimonos because, having never been allowed to wear one by the villagers, she wanted to try one on. But she was truly convinced that if the clothing was capable of making her future husband desire her so; it would be worth both the money and the restriction of wearing such close clothing.

She shouldn't have been worried as, shortly after she left the dressing room, Haku showed up with the store attendants. The attendant was told that the kimono, and any other chosen, would need to be altered for Kunoichi use.

Naruto was told that even if she would be capable of fighting in those kimonos after the altering, they weren't supposed to be used as ninja wear. The cloth and stitching were not strong to withstand the work being a ninja demanded.

As such, after outfitting Naruto with enough clothing to last her for 3 weeks without laundering (should she wish to use her formal attire too), they left the store with a delivering address, to go to a ninja store so they could take care of her workout and mission outfits. They wouldn't need all that much of the later, as she would soon be too large to safely go on missions.

They ended up letting her wear Kimonos while on mission and for workout clothing as well. Haku hadn't expected there to be all that much of that in ninja clothing, as he was used to having to make do with using civilian quality kimonos. But he had apparently not taken the higher number of clan members, who wanted to wear kimono, into account.

While Zabuza and Haku had feared that they would need to censor Naruto's choices for outfitting the house, due to her apparent love for orange; why else would she wear a whole jumpsuit of that color for missions, they were happily surprised at her choices. While it was colorful, it was tasteful, and combined with the brown and beige walls it would become a rather pretty and comfortable house.

Upon their entrance to their new home they had discovered a large library filled with jutsu scrolls and books about sealing; most of which was from Naruto's mother's home village, making her want to learn it. It was after all her inheritance.

They decided that they would need paper and sealing ink and that was what they did. They went to the weapon store to buy weapons and ink, meanwhile teaching Naruto about the different qualities of weapons, and what use those of lower quality would have.

The culmination of all that Zabuza had done for her during the day, made her realize that Zabuza was willing to take care of her, even before figuring out who exactly she was, and protect her from everything that could harm her. And Naruto became rather submissive, this time not only in bed. Of course this submissiveness only concerned Zabuza; toward everyone else she was still the little hell monster on crack, taking her revenge at the attitude and beatings she had been given throughout her life, out on the population of the village through pranks.

While the Hokage was happy, upon discovering it, that she was still ultimately herself, even as a she, he wasn't happy at her total submission toward 'her Zabuza-sama', but there was nothing he could do, and at least he was sure that should anything happen, she would come to him. He had been able to wrangle at least that promise out of her.

…o0O0o…

Upon them entering their new home after the simple wedding, Zabuza barked out one thing;

"Haku go to your room, and stay there." Before lifting his new bride up in his arms, carrying her directly to their bed.

That night Akemi discovered what it meant to be Zabuza's woman, and be marked as 'his'.

The next morning she tiredly, but happily got out of the bed, carefully so as to not wake up her husband, and went downstairs to make breakfast.

Sakura would have been amazed at her abilities in the kitchen; as she had everyone believing that the only thing she could cook was ramen. That wasn't true at all. She had learned what to do in a kitchen, the same place where she had learned everything else worth of note, including her taijutsu and weapon handling; among the thieves, murderers and whores in the red light district of Konoha. Most of her old classmates believed that that sort of thing didn't exist in Konoha, due to it being a ninja village. But all that that meant was; that the thieves and murderers were better in Konoha than they were other places, like the capital. And that the whores held knowledge in how to satisfy deeply paranoid shinobis alongside normal civilians.

Just because she had seemingly moved up in the world, didn't mean that she was going to forget about or ignore her true friends in the red light district. No she was going to continue hanging out with Aimi, Hanako and Kaida in the breakroom of the best brothel in town, not to mention going down to 'the broken cup' where she could find Isamu and Jigme from the thieves' guild and Makoto who was a hustler. She didn't really hang out with any of the killers, she felt that if you lived in a ninja village and wanted to kill people; become a ninja. That didn't mean that she didn't talk to them when they talked to her. They had after all had a part in raising her, along with the rest of the red light district.

After she found out about the Kyuubi, she started to think that the reason the people in the red light district was so good to her was that unlike most of the village they had common sense. Most of them most likely held the same belief as the rest of the villagers; that she was somehow the Kyuubi. But unlike the rest of the villagers they didn't want her to hate them. That would just be stupid. No if she liked them, she would be more probable to keep them safe, and not kill them when she went on the murdering rampage the rest of the villagers seemed to want her to go on.

A couple of days before the trip to wave, she had asked Hanako whether she believed that she, at that time in the guise of Naruko, was the demon fox Kyuubi. Hanako had looked at her for a long time, and then denied it.

"After all" she said "why would a demon fox want to know about how to seduce a man. If it didn't know it by now, it is because of disinterest."

As her coking was almost finished, a freshly showered Zabuza entered the kitchen. She had apparently not been as quiet, getting up, as she had wished.

"The breakfast will soon be finished Anata, would you like to inform Haku-kun, or should I?"


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

The next week saw Akemi's life, as Zabuza's wife and an apparently unknown ninja of Konoha, quite different than what she had expected.

The notoriety as being the woman who enticed 'the demon of the mist' to come and join the forces of Konoha; and with the gate guards Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo spreading that rumor to the ninja populace it was soon known by all with a headband, and with Kakashi telling everyone he overheard discussing it; that she had been a long term infiltration specialist, who was taking a break due to the presence of a mission baby, coincidentally Zabuza's, and that she was a close friend of his (along with the fact of her 'true identity' as the Yondaime's niece) she soon became very popular among the ninjas of the village, and of course among the connected civilians.

The shift from being a pariah to becoming almost a princess of Konoha was rather hard on the newly named Akemi; especially as she was adjusting to married life at the same time.

In the beginning she only experienced her inherited awe and respect when she was out shopping or showing her husband and his student their new village; as she was disguised as Naruko during her trips to the red light district, but after a week she was informed about the new member on team 7, and decided that she had used enough time on settling in, and that she wanted to start training again.

(It was lucky that she was human and not in fact a fox demon, as the nightly activities of her and Zabuza would have made her pregnant many times over, had that been the situation.)

The new member of the team was the only surviving member of a genin team from last year, who had lost his sensei and the other male teammate during a routine mission gone wrong. The fault for their death was his female teammate; who was a typical fangirl, and had been fangirling over the now deceased team member, resulting in him having to sacrifice his life to protect the client, as she was truly unable to carry her weight. The female teammate had ended up taking her own life, as she couldn't live with the shame and guilt of being responsible for her crush's and sensei's death, leaving the boy, by the name of Hayashi Morio without any of his former team.

This resulted in a new teammate who wasn't ready to ignore the uselessness of team 7's own fangirl: Sakura.

According to the daily visiting Kakashi; this had resulted in a rather unstable team, but he was sure that when they had all worked through there issues (or Sakura quit; whatever may come first), they would be a solid team. He had high hopes about them being able to enter the Chunin exam, but only time would show.

Concerning the Chunin exam; it wouldn't be needed for Akemi. Her actions during the wave mission, and the fact that it was needed for her new identity, had her promoted to chunin.

…o0O0o…

Akemi was wandering down the main road of the red light district, in her guise as Naruko. She had wanted to visit 'The Blue Lotus' which was the whorehouse where all of her female friends were working and living in… well she called them friends, they were more like older sisters and an aunt.

As she sneaked into the breakroom she was confronted with the sound of tears. Quietly stepping closer, to see if there was anything she could help with, while being hidden should she need to scare someone away, she came upon the sight of a crying Kaida in Hanako's arms. Hanako was the oldest of her friends, at the age of 34, and she had lived and worked at 'The Blue Lotus' for the last 10 years; since the death of her whole family, including her fiancé, during the Kyuubi's attack. Akemi had never found out why she ended up as a whore, as she seemed rather capable in many other things, but maybe it just was her preference.

As she walked out of the shadows, to find out what was wrong and if she could help, she was seen by Aimi who was standing helplessly, with a hopeless yet enraged look on her face.

She walked over to Akemi and started to explain in a quiet, almost whispering voice.

"Kaida was forced by a customer to have unprotected sex about 2 month ago… she is pregnant… there is no way she can keep the baby… she won't get kicked out, but she will be forced to give her baby to the orphanage."

Kaida was 16 years old, and had lost her whole family when they fled from the civil war in Mist. She had been the only one to reach Konoha, and all of the family's gold had been stolen on the way. As a fugitive she wasn't able to find a job, and had ended as a whore to get a roof above her head and food on the table. There was nothing she wished more for than a family. To be told that she wouldn't be able to keep, and might never again see, the baby she would be carrying in her stomach for nine months had to be devastating.

Aimi had also lost her whole family in the Kyuubi attack. She had been 8 years old when it happened, and had been burdened with crippling anxiety attacks for one and a half year afterwards. When she finally was ready to begin her life again, she had wanted to become a ninja; only to be told that it was too late, and that she should find another job.

She had only been in 'The Blue Lotus for two years, as she had been thrown out of the orphanage at age 16 due to there not being enough room. She had wanted to work in library, but as she didn't have any money or a family willing to fight for her, she was forced to find other employment (the road to becoming a librarian were expensive and time consuming, as you had to have read all of the books in your domain, making it an impossible road to take for a poor orphan). Through the twists of life she ended up as a whore, even though it was one of the better paid establishments, and she had a regular customer; her john was married, and she couldn't exactly get a reputable job now, not after she had 'sullied' herself.

Akemi tried to find a solution to the devastating problem, but it was only when she gave up, looking down in defeat, and spotted her stomach she started to think of a feasible solution.

"I have been keeping a lot of stuff secret since my C-rank mission, you know; my mission to wave. It wasn't on purpose… no that isn't true… I was told not to tell anyone, because if anyone found out, more than my own life would be in danger. But you guys are my friends… my family. I need you to promise me not to tell anyone what I am telling you now… and I might have a solution that will make you capable of keeping your child." The last part was addressed to Kaida, but all three of them were looking at her with hope in their eyes.

"We promise… but Naruko, you can hardly look after yourself, how could you find a feasible solution?" it was Hanako who were speaking; being the oldest she was also the most responsible out of them.

"I had a name change… to Namikaza Akemi… ten hours later I became Momochi Akemi… I am going to become a mother, but I don't want to stop being a ninja… I have only just begun after all and…" a shocked Kaida interrupted her.

"Do you mean you got adopted by Momochi Zabuza, the demon of the mist...? And what in the world do you mean by getting pregnant? Last I knew you were born male; a henge is all good for ticking people, but it doesn't change your gender."

Akemi gave them a nervous smile.

"Surprise; I can actually change my gender… and no I didn't get adopted… I got married… my baby is a mission baby, and the baby's father; one Momochi Zabuza, decided that he wanted to have a part in raising his child… so we got married…" then her sheepy voice turned determinate, and she continued.

"But that isn't important. I will need a babysitter when I start taking missions again, and I will need someone I trust. Not to mention that it would be much better if the babysitter had a child herself; as I will want to change back to myself as fast as possible, something that will be difficult if I will have to breastfeed my child myself… If I change to male I won't be having any milk in my breasts when I change back… so I thought; maybe you would want to be my live in nanny…? What do you say? Wanna leave this place behind?"

At her hopeful look the three whores started laughing, relived but with a hint of hysteria.

When they had all calmed down Akemi turned toward Hanako and Aimi with an apology on her lips, but she was met with head shaking.

"We will find a way out of here on our own… we never expected help to come like this; and the fact that you can save Kaida and her unborn child is more than enough… you cannot save the world, no matter how much you wish to." Were Hanako's quiet words, which Aimi was nodding along to.

Akemi gave them a relived smile, and then she got a confused look on her face.

"Wait a moment… you didn't question why I had taken the name Namikaze… quite frankly I thought that would be the most shocking thing for you…"

The women were so relived at the earlier found solution that they couldn't keep from having a little fun at Akemi's expence.

"Ghasp… you're right… how could we forget such an important discovery…? I mean; there is no way that you could be the Yondaimes child… you look nothing alike, and I am sure that if he had had a child the Sandaime would have told everyone… after all there is no danger connected with letting his child carry his name."

Then Hanako, who had been the one talking, and the two others send her a look, clearly stating that she was an idiot.

At Akemi's confused and sorry face Aimi started to explain, trying to make her understand that they truly didn't care about her new revelation.

"while most of the villagers, civilians or ninjas, might not wish to see the truth, and keep on their blinds; we in the red light district don't have that luxury… plus we know you… your looks, when you look like yourself, are just like the Yondaime… and your personality… everyone knew about the flame the Yondaime carried for Uzumaki Kushina… you showing up with her name, his looks, and a personality that were a perfect mix of theirs, although colored by growing up in our part of town… you could be noting but their son… or daughter if that is what you want to be."

Akemi's cheeks colored red… it was the first time she had been told that she resembled her parents, and to be told that, in such a positive way, by her self-made family made her truly happy. Then she registered the last part of the little speech.

"Wait- no- I don't want to be a girl… the only reason I am a girl right now is because of the pregnancy… I don't hate being a girl… but I have never been in doubt of whether I'm a girl or a boy… sure it is helpful to look like a girl when I have to sneak around, or when it is needed during a mission… but look where I ended because of that… pregnant at 10… not exactly an endorsement for the jutsu."

The three women couldn't keep from laughing at her flustered face, but they did stop trying to kid her.

"When will I move?" the quiet question came from Kaida, cutting through the others hilarity. When Akemi looked at her; she was confronted with her uncertainty for the future, and the illogical fright that her savior's promise wasn't the truth.

Akemi smiled assuringly at her.

"You can come with me home today when I go home… that seems the most logical. And while you know I ain't dissing your guys work… I very much doubt you will want another night of work, when you don't need it."

All of the three women were nodding in agreement, even Hanako who normally didn't say anything negative about her work. While their work could at times make them feel good; there were customers who they sometimes wished they could turn away.

…o0O0o…

Akemi, under the disguise as Naruko, and Kaida didn't stay for very long. Only long enough to get Kaida's affairs in order, and for Akemi to get an update of what had happened while she had been away or otherwise busy.

As they walked down one of the back streets of the red light district, on the way to Akemi's new home, which was placed in one of the better parts of town, primarily populated by non-clan ninja families and the few rich but small, often times only one member strong, ninja-clans, she thought back to how she became so knowledgeable about the layout of this part of the village.

She had, or rather he, as he had been Naruto at that time, been thrown out of the orphanage at the age of 4. Actually the day after his 4 years birthday; the matron of the orphanage had told him that he was old enough to take care of himself, and to never darken their doorstep again. When the Old man Hokage had found him and given him an apartment of his own, shortly after his 5th birthday, due to him being recognized while going through the trash of Ichiraku Ramen and brought to the Hokage's attention by Teuchi, the ramen chief, the Hokage obviously thought that he had only just been thrown out, thinking that it would have been impossible for him to survive the winter when he was told by Naruto that he had been thrown out after his birthday.

In truth he had been living on the street in the poor part of town, where the orphanage was placed, until about the beginning of November, where he had, purely on accident, wandered into a bar in the red light district, where the thieves and hustlers of the village normally hang out. He had been picked up by Jigme, and the rest as they say is history… or at least it was his history.

He was moved from home to home, hideout to hideout, and learned most of his sexual education during the nights he spent in the closet at one or the other of the whores' places; while they were 'entertaining guests'. It was also there that he learned about the few in the village who preferred their same gender, and as such never developed a discrimination against same sex couples. Something he later, during his time in the academy, learned was frowned heavily at.

And even after he had got his own apartment, he seldom spent more than the night there, as he easily became lonely and started to miss his 'family'. As most of the people in the red light district had hardly had a normal or, in most peoples' case, even nice childhood, most of his 'family' didn't know how to entertain him, and ended up teaching him all they knew, whether it was about lock picking, where to hit a man so he went down, either temporary or permanently, how to entice a man to your bed, and make him come back for more, or the simple things like reading and counting, instead of the normal pursuit of children his age; like playing ninja or hide and seek.

At the end of it all; Naruto could have easily taken over the control of the red light district, or started 'working' in any of the different trades his 'family' worked in, but he wanted to be a ninja. Mostly because he couldn't decide between the different professions, and being a ninja allowed him to use all of the skills he had acquired during his childhood.

When he had started the ninja academy, the people of the red light district, whether they knew Naruto personally or only through the stories of their colleges and friends, decided collectively to make him out to be the best ninja possible. Not necessarily the most famous, but the best; as if to represent the red light district. And while he was heavily handicapped by sabotage from his academy teachers, he was a much more capable ninja than any of the rest that came out of the academy.

Sure he didn't know all that much about the history of the world, or how to calculate The Projectile Motion of a kunai, but he could kill, cheat, steal from, seduce or trick any man, be they ninja or civilian, and though most thought him an unrepentant prankster, it was in a matter of fact a training technic that Makoto had devised for him. The irritating and humiliating pranks, combined with his orange jumpsuit, made him train in evasion, hiding, speed, how to sneak into secure areas, and how to keep track of other ninjas in a highly hostile situation.

Every week he was given an objective, and a time wherein he was not allowed to get caught. When he got a little older, and the chunins weren't enough, he really started to get something out of his small training exercises, as the ANBU was much more difficult to hide from or outrun. Not that he couldn't do it, but for a while he didn't succeed in his objective of the week, and as such was put under much hasher training in his other 'subjects' by his 'teachers'.

Just before they left the red light district, Naruko went in between two buildings, and seconds later returned as Akemi. Not that there were all that big a difference between the two looks, except for the difference in age; as Naruko looked to be around 18 years old, and Akemi was 14, and the lack of whisker marks and smaller breasts on Akemi.

They secretly left the district, but soon they were just a part of the moving masses of people to the watching Haku. He had been given orders to follow Zabuza's new wife. They may be married, and he a part of their new village, but he did in no way trust his new 'wife'… at least not yet. After all; the only reason he got married to a 10 year old boy, was that he got tricked into having unprotected sex with an, at that time, enemy ninja.

Oh; he did have nothing but respect for his new wife, she was probably the ninja of Konoha with the most 'ninja mindset' out of all of the ninja bellow jounin. And he was sure that they would, once trust had been established, become one hell of a pair. But as for right now; he didn't trust her at all.

…o0O0o…

A week later, after rigorous training from her new husband (he found the standards they let genins graduate at to be like sending them on suicide missions at the get go; there was no way they were ready for anything more than the chores disguised as D-rank missions for a long time, and even though he was impressed with how she handled the situation in wave, he had found that Sakura's level was the norm and were rather put out with Akemi's fighting skills too. He was determined to make her at least at Haku's level before her birth and her reentering into missions.); she met the first person who absolutely didn't like her new persona.

It wasn't the fact that she was a ninja, by Kami no; she was one herself, but the fact that she had been willing to 'sully herself' to complete her fictive infiltration mission. In Inuzuka Hana's eyes she should have killed, or taken Zabuza as prisoner, instead of seducing him. She didn't care at all that some missions called for discretion and that the fake mission parameters said that she was supposed to leave no one with the knowledge that she was a Kunichi. According to Zabuza; this was a clear sign that she was a clan heir, as clan heirs were never given the 'dirty' missions like assassination of a child or seduction of an enemy or informant. She simply had rose-tinted glasses on, about what it meant to be a ninja… a little like the fangirls in the academy.

None the less, this resulted in the rather dangerous situation of being heavily disliked by one of the more important, both politically and socially, ninja's of 'their generation'; even though there was 4 years difference between Hana's age and Akemi's supposed age.

In the end Akemi lost face when she had to decline a spar with, the rather dismissive of her skills, heir to the Inuzuka clan.

Sure she had told Hana that it was because of her pregnancy, and that she had been advised to decline offers of spars, as the alliance of Momochi Zabuza and his bloodline carrying apprentice was dependent of her birthing a healthy child, but the truth was; that while she had the title of Chunin, and indeed had a lot of skills not normally found in a genin, her fighting abilities was far from where they should be according to her rank.

Another lie was that she did indeed spar, daily and rather vigorously with her husband. This, and her lack of fighting power and finesse, was luckily kept a secret from the populace of Konoha, due to the rather large training field behind the Momochi, formerly Namikaze, mansion. As it had formerly belonged to the former Hokage; it had its own private training field, although it had earlier, when her father's parents lived, been a rather large garden.

The house, while not as big as the Uchiha, Aburame or Hyuga compound, and indeed were only comparable to the main house of the Nara clan, was big enough to possibly house a restarted clan. It had at one point in time been the main house of the small Namikaze clan, but as the members dwindled they started to sell out of their land, and slowly new small clan houses started to spring up around it. The ground was none the less one of the biggest in that area of the village, and the house itself held 20 bedrooms.

But even more important than the size of the training field, was the fact that it was behind a large wall, which the former Hokage had reinforced with seals, making it impossible to scale. This made it possible for Akemi to use her Shadow clones; a technic she had been rather well known to use in large scale under her identity as Naruto.

Zabuza almost cut Kakashi's head of when he learned that she was unaware of the memory feedback feature of the clone. Afterwards he turned toward Akemi and chewed her out for her stupidity in not noticing, but at least she got to see Kakashi cower; he hadn't been a very good sensei, even though he was a more than passible friend.

Apropos friend; she found a new friend, now that she could no longer hang out with her former classmates. Sure he was the age of her parents, but somehow their personalities just clicked.

Her new 'best bud' was from the former Ino-Shika-Cho team; the parents of the new Ino-Shika-Cho team.

While her husband found her ridiculously un-careful in becoming 'best buds' with the jonin commander, and the undisputed smartest ninja in the village, who himself was best friends with the head of the T&I department, and head of a clan of mind readers, and of course Chouza; a man who could charm the secrets out of an Aburame, he was also rather accepting of her spending a large amount of her time with the other male.

Most people thought it was because of him being so secure in her devotion to him (with her being so submissive to him), but the truth was that he truly didn't care if she was with them in that way.

When Akemi questioned him about it, having found out the truth due to a slip of the tongue from Haku, his answer truly surprised her.

"While I have no doubt about your commitment to me; I am quite aware of your responsibility to repopulate the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans. If you only had children from me; you would only be able to remake the clans under one banner. A diversity of fathers to your children would make a splitting of the clans possible; and as you are my wife, any children of yours, no matter the biological father, would be for me to raise."

To hear that her husband expected her to have children with others quite surprised her, and frankly made her a little uncomfortable. But as she was committed to follow her husband's wishes; she was willing to do as he wished. Not that it was relevant right now, as she was unable to become pregnant once again while being pregnant already.

His words also made her think. She truly wished to become a great ninja, and later Hokage, but she was also aware of her responsibility to repopulate her clans. She could hardly do both; unless she married, or got someone pregnant, as Naruto. It would be something she would often think of, and ponder upon, in the following months. She was only ten years old (no matter that she lived her life as a 14 years old) and would have time in the future, but it wasn't something she could forget about.

…o0O0o…

While Akemi liked Shikaku a great deal, and found him to be a much greater friend than his son had been, even in their years of skipping together in the academy, she truly detested his wife Nara Yoshino.

"Shikaku I don't understand why you accept her treating you like that!" the two of them were once again sitting, during one of the jonin commander's rare free days, at the shogi board.

Having just experienced Yoshino once again heaping verbal abuse at Shikaku due to him being lazy (something she really should have expected upon marrying the head of a clan known for its laziness), even though even Akemi, who was only a friend, knew how hard the man worked during work hours. She really didn't understand how he could stomach having such a demanding and domineering wife; someone who had no respect for how hard he worked for the sake of Konoha.

It wasn't like he never trained either; you could clearly see how much he trained from how ripped his body was. He was almost comparable to her Zabuza-sama.

Shikaku gave a sigh, then looked carefully around; he really didn't want his wife to overhear.

"We have been married for 13 years… we have a son together, that got to count for something!?" whether he was asking, or trying to convince himself, she didn't know; she just knew that he definitely didn't believe his own words. Apparently she was on to something. She tried asking in to it, hoping to find out what the real reason behind such a relaxed man as Shikaku having decided to marry a harpy like Yoshino.

"Why did you marry her anyway? I mean sure; she is very beautiful. But why marry someone with such an incompatible disposition?"

Now Shikaku looked rather sheepish. He scratched under his goatee and hemmed a little. When she just continued looking questioningly at him, he finally answered in a slightly ashamed tone of voice.

"She got pregnant."

Akemi couldn't keep in a snort of laugther. At Shikaku's chagrined look she smiled almost lovingly at him, shaking her head lightly at his stupidity.

"Shikaku… it's me you're talking to… remember what happened on my last mission, and why I had such a shortgun wedding…? With a missing nin at that!"

That made Shikaku himself release a snort in laughter and self-disgust. And he was called the smartest in the village. At least he had Akemi when he started to wallow in self-pity and stupidity.

…o0O0o…

One and a half week later Shikaku, Inoichi and Choza sat in a bar on the border of the red light district. They were quite aware that such a district existed within the village, and actually came there rather often. Not to partake in its lovely women, but for the cheap drinks, and the seldom hint they could get about what was going on at the bottom of the society.

"So… how does it go with you and Yoshino?" it was Inoichi's turn to ask the, by now, common question. And he and Choza expected the just as usual answer of 'fine'.

Shikaku emptied yet another saucer of sake, and after a sigh and a quiet 'troublesome', he answered.

"I have had just about enough of her… if it wasn't for Shikamaru I would have left her by now; and with the speed she is pushing him away, it won't be a valid reason for much longer."

Choza put down the cup he had just lifted, and Inoichi almost spat out the beer he had just filled his mouth with. They had not expected him to answer that, no matter how honest, and quite frankly expected the sentiment was.

Then Choza got a glint in his eye.

"Oh I see… spending a little time with your new, young 'friend' has finally opened your eyes! Looking for a new wife I see…" then with a matching grin Inoichi completed the sentence.

"I'm sad to have to inform you that she is taken…"

Shikamaru gave them a deadpan stare, then he gave a little self-discriminating smile.

"Sure… laugh it up. If she wasn't already married I would have taken her… no matter that she is only two years older than my son… she is exactly like a woman should be: quiet, hardworking, demur and able to protect herself… and I bet when she get her child she will be the ideal mother… not like Yoshino… always harping up about how Shikamaru isn't achieving his full potential.

But I'm serious… if she runs Shikamaru out of the house I'm getting rid of her… it is becoming much more troublesome to stay together than to live alone."

Now his former teammates were truly shocked… sure they had been surprised at him finally voicing his grievances with his wife, but to hear that he truly was at the end of the line, and seriously considered becoming a bachelor again, that did surprise them. He had after all grinded his teeth for many years; both because of his son and heir, but also because of the clan, and the villagers image of the clan. Even though it was legal; for a clan member, or worse a clan head, to get divorced was quite unusual. Primarily because the former spouse would be holding knowledge about the clan that most clans wouldn't want to leave the family. It would take quite a bit of work to change routines, locks and codes if Yoshino got thrown out of the clan she had married into. The same thing that happened whenever a clan member of one of the clans became a missing nin.

But even so, if this was truly how Shikaku felt; they would inform their wives that they were to start to distance themselves from the Nara clan matriarch. They were both aware that; even though to an outsider the wives of the three former teammates looked as close as siblings, the only reason they appeared so was because of their clans being so closely knit together. Their two wives didn't really have all that in common with the Nara clan heads wife; neither in hobbies, childrearing or temperaments.

After a closer, but discreet, look at their friend; the two men decided, each on their own, that they would inform their wives to try to create a friendship with Momochi's wife. Although they believed that there would never come anything out of it; it was clear where Shikaku's heart lay.

…o0O0o…

While Nara Shikaku was falling in love with his wife, Zabuza was finally starting to trust her.

He had been asking around in town about Uzumaki Naruto (and it was only due to the Hokage's interference he wasn't brought into T&I due to asking about the village's closest guarded asset), and was rather shocked at the animosity he was met with; contraire to his starting belief it wasn't because of him, but rather because of the subject matter he was asking about, something he soon discovered.

It was first upon questioning a chunin who worked at the academy, one Umino Iruka, that he got a description of his new wife, which wasn't filled with swearwords and hateful comments.

According to Umino; Uzumaki Naruto was a rather straight forward kind of guy. What was special about Naruto was; that unlike every other ninja in the elemental country, Naruto had a Samurai mindset. When he gave his word he kept it, even if it was to an enemy.

Finding that little tidbit of fact rather fascinating, he started to ask around again, to hear if that was the truth, and lo and behold; it was.

Uzumaki Naruto, now Momochi Akemi, always kept her word. And as she had promised to be faithful and care for him, be it in sickness or health, he finally started to trust his new wife.

That brought on new dynamics in their household. Where before Zabuza had expected total obedience from his wife, and wasn't shy about informing her of this, it was now a rather understated understanding.

It didn't really change anything on the surface, but they all became more relaxed. Zabuza also started to ask questions about Akemi's life before their marriage, and willingly answered questions in return. This brought a new understanding between the two of them, and soon they were so comfortable in each other's company that people, meaning civilians, who didn't know who Zabuza was, believed the two of them to have known each other for their whole life.

With the understanding of each other came a relaxation on Zabuza's part, in his monitoring of his wife through Haku. Haku still kept an eye on Akemi when she was out of their home, but he no longer brought tidings back to Zabuza about what she was doing, and with whom.

They truly had come together as a family. True there was not yet any love; only trust and attraction. But now they both felt that they had a chance at becoming something more. They had an actual chance at falling in love.


End file.
